Divorced on Monday, Bought the City on Tuesday: The Infinite

The Undervalued Asset

Chapter 61

"Lot 410. Terrestrial Apex Hardware," an amplified, booming voice echoed across the auction sector. The Overseer a bloated, slug-like alien sitting on a floating podium gestured toward Arthur with a fleshy appendage. 

Arthur stood in the center of the brightly lit circular stage. Kael and a dozen other trembling prisoners knelt in the shadows behind him, awaiting their turn. 

"Do not let the primitive aesthetic fool you," the Overseer sneered, tapping a console that projected Arthur’s biometric data into the air for the crowd to see. "The internal bone density is catastrophic. Muscle fibers are woven with sub-molecular threading. This hardware survived a Level 5 Incubation Cycle. Perfect for heavy gladiatorial combat or hazardous extraction."

The crowd of cosmic nobility sneered down at the human in the ruined suit. 

"It’s a primate," a towering, multi-eyed warlord barked from the front balcony. "I’ll give you ten Aether Credits for it. I need something for my hounds to chew on."

"Fifteen," a cloaked figure hissed from the shadows. 

"Twenty!" 

Arthur stood perfectly still, his hands behind his back. Twenty credits. It was an insultingly low valuation. The market was highly inefficient. They were looking at his lack of visible weapons and assuming he was trash-tier stock. 

"Twenty Aether Credits going to Lord Xar," the slug-like Overseer droned, raising a digital gavel. "Are there any other"

"I object to the valuation."

Arthur’s voice wasn't amplified by a microphone, but it cut through the chaotic noise of the trading floor like a razor blade. 

The entire sector went dead silent. Thousands of alien eyes snapped toward the auction stage. Prisoners did not speak. Merchandise did not negotiate. 

The Overseer blinked its massive, bulbous eyes, staring down at Arthur. "The hardware is defective. It speaks out of turn. Silence it and brand the obedience seal!"

Two security constructs marched onto the stage, their gravity-batons crackling with lethal, violet energy. The taller of the two raised its weapon, aiming a devastating downward strike directly at Arthur’s skull. 

Kael squeezed his four eyes shut, anticipating the sickening crunch of human bone. 

Arthur didn't dodge. 

His right hand shot upward with blinding, hypersonic speed. He caught the crackling end of the gravity-baton in his bare palm. 

The violet energy exploded outward, sending a shockwave that shattered the glass fixtures on the front-row balconies. But Arthur’s arm didn't buckle. The Leviathan Marrow Serum absorbed the kinetic impact, and his skin remained entirely unburned. 

The construct’s optical sensors flared red in mechanical panic. It tried to pull the weapon back, but Arthur’s grip was an absolute, unbreakable vice. 

"You're pricing me as a slave," Arthur said softly, locking his golden eyes on the terrified Overseer hovering above. 

With a brutal, effortless twist of his wrist, Arthur shattered the gravity-baton into a dozen pieces. Before the metal construct could release the broken handle, Arthur stepped into its guard. He drove his open palm directly into the center of the machine's armored chest plate. 

*BOOM.*

The impact sounded like a cannon firing inside a cathedral. The Grandmaster-tier kinetic strike caved the thick dark-metal armor inward, utterly destroying the construct’s internal power core. The eight-foot machine was launched backward, flying entirely off the auction stage and crashing violently into the spectator balcony, crushing three wealthy nobles beneath its massive weight. 

Screams of terror and outrage erupted across the trading floor. 

The second construct lunged. Arthur didn't even look at it. He simply executed a flawless, spinning roundhouse kick that connected with the side of the machine's mechanical head. The construct’s head snapped cleanly off its neck, sparking and sparking before the decapitated body crumpled to the floor. 

Arthur stood in the center of the stage, lowering his leg, dusting off his trousers. 

"I am not a slave," Arthur announced, his *Aura of the Sovereign* expanding outward, flooding the auction sector with a crushing, suffocating willpower that brought half the room to their knees. "I am a hostile acquirer. And I think it's time to renegotiate the terms of my sale."

The Overseer shrieked in panic, frantically pressing the emergency lockdown buttons on his podium. "Kill it! The hardware has gone rogue! Guards, execute Lot 410!"

Dozens of heavy security doors burst open around the perimeter of the sector. Heavily armed alien mercenaries poured into the room, raising energy rifles and aiming them squarely at the man on the stage. 

Arthur cracked his knuckles. He was entirely unarmed, surrounded by an army, with a suppressive collar locked around his neck. 

It was a terrible business position. 

Suddenly, a sharp, piercing pain lanced through Arthur’s temple. He gritted his teeth, his vision swimming. 

Deep within the darkest, most locked-down recesses of his consciousness, something sparked to life. It wasn't the pristine blue interface of the Infinite Wealth System he had given to Serena. It was fractured. The edges of the digital screen were jagged, glowing with an unstable, blood-red hue. 

*Ding.*

*[UNAUTHORIZED HARDWARE DETECTED.]*

*[BOOTING FRAGMENTED SYSTEM OVERRIDE...]*

Arthur gasped, falling to one knee as the red light flooded his retinas. The collar around his neck sparked violently, desperately trying to inject the neurotoxin, but the fragmented code in his brain was actively rewriting the collar's firmware in real-time. 

*[Welcome back, Host 410.]*

*[Connection to Earthly Ledger: Severed.]*

*[Void Market Access: Hijacked.]*

*[Current Balance: 0 Aether Credits.]*

The red text shifted, flashing with a manic, glitching energy. 

*[NEW MISSION GENERATED: Survive the ambush.]*

*[Reward: 100 Aether Credits + Collar Deactivation.]*

Arthur looked up. The mercenaries were charging the stage, their weapons powering up with a lethal whine. 

Arthur smiled. The golden light in his eyes merged with the blood-red reflection of his fractured System. He didn't have billions anymore. He was starting over from absolute zero. 

"Let's see what a hundred credits can buy me," Arthur whispered, launching himself off the stage directly into the front line of the charging army.